Two of Captain John Blackmore's Slaves Captured

By Emory L. Hamilton

From the unpublished manuscript, Indian Atrocities Along the Clinch, Powell and Holston Rivers, page 10.

On Friday, September 23, 1774, Logan, the Mingo Chieftan, and his Indians made an attack on Ft. Blackmore in Scott County. They captured two Negro slaves (1), the property of Captain John Blackmore, and Logan, himself was in pursuit of a third when the timely aid of Capt. Blackmore prevented the Negro's capture. The Indians then forced one of their Negro captives to march back and forth, in full view of the fort, near a quarter of an hour. The Indians with a superior number, no doubt, were hoping to provoke the defenders of the fort to sally forth to rescue the slaves. Captain (James) Looney was in command of the fort at this time and had only eleven men under his command. The Indians, before taking their departure from the neighborhood, shot down a number of cattle and horses, thus inflicting a heavy property loss on Blackmore and his neighbors.(2)

(1) Letters of Captains William Christian and William Russell, shown later in this mss., it seems probable that Blackmore's slaves were later restored to him, Thwaites & Kellog, Dunmore's War, page 305.
(2) R. M. Addington, History of Scott County, page 53.